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In the next 24 hours, negotiations will commence to arrange the biggest fight in boxing: Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather.

The former mythical pound-for-pound king before he took an almost two-year hiatus in 2007 — Mayweather — against the current one, an action hero who already is the greatest Asian fighter in history and one of the all-time greats from any era in any weight class.

After Saturday's shocking destruction of Miguel Cotto via 12th-round knockout, Pacquiao (50-3-2, 38 KOs) has earned a share of the lineal welterweight championship and picked up a major belt in his seventh different weight class.

Monday, Mayweather called out Pacquiao, saying the fighter has not come out and actually said he wants to fight Mayweather.

"Manny Pacquiao is the fighter and every time someone asks him if he wants to fight me, he says it is up to his promoter, he's going to take a vacation, whatever the answer is," Mayweather said. "I have yet to hear him actually say, 'yes I want to fight Mayweather.' We are the fighters and if one fighter is talking about fighting another fighter, then they should just come out and say it. Manny Pacquiao doesn't say anything directly about fighting me because he might just know it's not a fight he can win."

Said Bob Arum, chairman of Top Rank, which promotes the Filipino and formerly promoted Mayweather: "All you have to know is that my fighter and his trainer Freddie Roach have gone on record saying they're happy to fight Mayweather. Hopefully we'll be able to put this together," he said. "The one thing I'm not going to do, and the only thing that's going to kill this, is to negotiate through the newspapers. If that happens and egos get in the way, the fight might not happen. From our side, we're willing."

While Mayweather has been reluctant to say he wants to fight Pacquiao, even after his decision win against Juan Manuel Marquez in September, he's been vocal about Arum and suggests the promoter is afraid of putting Pacquiao in the ring with him.

"You know that isn't true," Arum says. "Maybe I prefer not to deal with him. But if your fighter wants a fight, you deal. Mayweather is not one of my favorite people and I'm sure I'm not one of his. What difference does that make?

"If we were talking about some match on (HBO's) Boxing After Dark, then you can have plenty of spite and no one loses very much on a fight not being made. In this case it's more than just the money. It's the fact that boxing is on a roll. It's doing great. If this fight doesn't happen it hurts the momentum of the sport and that does a disservice to the sport. I'm keenly aware of that."

The undefeated Mayweather says he just wants to hear the words come from Pacquiao that he wants to fight.

"Tell Manny Pacquiao to be his own man and stop letting everyone, including his loudmouth trainer (Freddie Roach), talk for him," said Mayweather. "I am my own boss, speak for myself and tell it like it is. If Manny Pacquiao wants to fight me, all he has to do is step up to the plate and say it himself."

Article Link:
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/boxing/2009-11-16-boxing-mayweather_N.htm?poe=HFMostPopular&loc=interstitialskip

By DAN ELLIOTT, Associated Press Writer Dan Elliott, Associated Press Writer – 34 mins ago

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – A Colorado sheriff said he was pursuing criminal charges in the case of a 6-year-old boy who vanished into the rafters of his garage while the world thought he was zooming through the sky in a flying saucer-like helium balloon.

The boy's parents, Richard and Mayumi Heene, met with Larimer County investigators for much of the afternoon, but Sheriff Jim Alderden didn't say who would be charged or what the charges would be.

Alderden didn't call Thursday's hours-long drama a hoax, but he expressed disappointment that he couldn't level more serious charges in the incident, which sent police and the military scrambling to save young Falcon Heene as millions of worried television viewers watched.

"We were looking at Class 3 misdemeanor, which hardly seems serious enough given the circumstances," Alderden said. "We are talking to the district attorney, federal officials to see if perhaps there aren't additional federal charges that are appropriate in this circumstance."

He said deputies were seeking a search warrant for the family's home, and there would be more information at a news conference Sunday.

After the sheriff went inside, Richard Heene and his wife walked out. As reporters yelled questions, all Heene said was, "I was talking to the sheriff's department just now." He then walked to his car with his wife and a friend, and they drove away.

The Heenes were expected to speak to reporters outside their home later Saturday, after a strange day that began with Richard Heene knocking on the windows of journalists camped outside his home and promising a "big announcement." A few hours later, he did an about-face when he told reporters that they should leave questions in a cardboard box on the front doorstep.

As Heene walked away, a reporter shouted, "Can you tell us once and for all if this is a hoax?"

"Absolutely no hoax. I want your questions in the box," Heene said, waving a cardboard container before going back into his home.

A circus-like atmosphere formed outside, including men holding signs and occasionally yelling "balloon boy." One sign read, "Put balloon boy on TV: America's Most Wanted."

Other gawkers carried aluminum-foil stovetop popcorn makers that resembled the silvery balloon launched from the family's backyard Thursday, with 6-year-old Falcon Heene believed to be onboard.

While Richard and Mayumi Heene were at the sheriff's office, the couple's three sons remained home, apparently being watched by sheriff's officials. Authorities wouldn't comment on what was happening.

Alderden had said that he wanted to re-interview the family after Falcon turned to his dad during a CNN interview and said "you said we did this for a show" when asked why he didn't come out of his hiding place. Then Falcon got sick during two separate TV interviews when asked why he hid.

The balloon was supposed to be tethered to the ground when it lifted off, and no one was supposed to be aboard. A video of the launch shows the family counting down in unison, "3, 2, 1," before Richard Heene pulls a cord, setting the balloon into the air.

"Whoa!" one of the boys exclaims. Then his father says in disbelief, "Oh, my God!" He then says to someone, "You didn't put the (expletive) tether down!" and he kicks the wood frame that had held the balloon.

Falcon's brother said he saw him inside the compartment before it took off and that's why they thought he was in there when it launched. Heene said he had yelled at Falcon before the launch for getting inside.

Alderden said earlier that he thinks it's likely that Falcon ran off because he was scared of getting in trouble, later falling asleep in his hiding spot. He said he doubted that such a hyperactive boy could be ordered to stay quiet for the five hours he was missing.

Over the years, Richard Heene has worked as a storm chaser, a handyman and contractor, and an aspiring reality-TV star.

He and his family appeared on the ABC reality show "Wife Swap," and the show's producer said it had a show in development with the Heenes but the deal is now off. TLC also said Heene had pitched a reality show to the network months ago, but it passed on the offer.

Despite his attempts to get on TV, Heene insisted Saturday that he didn't know what kinds of questions were being asked about him because he didn't have cable.

"I'm going to place the box out front. Please write your questions down, because friends are telling me they're saying this and that. I have no idea what the news is saying," Heene said.

Article Link:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091018/ap_on_re_us/us_boy_in_balloon

by Elodie Mazein Elodie Mazein – Thu Oct 15, 9:56 am ET

LONDON (AFP) – The Arctic ice cap will disappear completely in summer months within 20 to 30 years, a polar research team said as they presented findings from an expedition led by adventurer Pen Hadow.

It is likely to be largely ice-free during the warmer months within a decade, the experts added.

Veteran polar explorer Hadow and two other Britons went out on the Arctic ice cap for 73 days during the northern spring, taking more than 6,000 measurements and observations of the sea ice.

The raw data they collected from March to May has been analysed, producing some stark predictions about the state of the ice cap.

"The summer ice cover will completely vanish in 20 to 30 years but in less than that it will have considerably retreated," said Professor Peter Wadhams, head of the polar ocean physics group at Britain's prestigious Cambridge University.

"In about 10 years, the Arctic ice will be considered as open sea."

Starting off from northern Canada, Hadow, Martin Hartley and Ann Daniels skied over the ice cap to measure the thickness of the remaining ice, assessing its density and the depth of overlying snow, as well as taking weather and sea temperature readings.

Across their 450-kilometre (290 mile) route, the average thickness of the ice floes was 1.8 metres (six feet), while it was 4.8 metres when incorporating the compressed ridges of ice.

"An average thickness of 1.8 metres is typical of first year ice, which is more vulnerable in the summer. And the multi-year ice is shrinking back more rapidly," said Wadhams.

"It's a concrete example of global change in action.

"With a larger part of the region now in first year ice, it is clearly more vulnerable. The area is now more likely to become open water each summer, bringing forward the potential date when the summer sea ice will be completely gone."

Doctor Martin Sommerkorn, senior climate change adviser for the World Wide Fund for Nature's international Arctic programme, said the survey painted a sombre picture of the ice meltdown, which was happening "faster than we thought".

"Remove the Arctic ice cap and we are left with a very different and much warmer world," he said.

Loss of sea ice cover will "set in motion powerful climate feedbacks which will have an impact far beyond the Arctic itself," he added.

"This could lead to flooding affecting one quarter of the world's population, substantial increases in greenhouse gas emission from massive carbon pools and extreme global weather changes."

"Today's findings provide yet another urgent call for action to world leaders ahead of the United Nations climate summit in Copenhagen in December to rapidly and effectively curb global greenhouse gas emissions."

Article Links:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091015/wl_canada_afp/britaincanadaarcticclimateenvironmentscience

By MARCUS WOHLSEN, Associated Press Writer Marcus Wohlsen, Associated Press Writer – Wed Oct 7, 9:49 pm ET

SAN FRANCISCO – Marijuana advocates are gathering signatures to get as many as three pot-legalization measures on the ballot in 2010 in California, setting up what could be a groundbreaking clash with the federal government over U.S. drug policy.

At least one poll shows voters would support lifting the pot prohibition, which would make the state of more than 38 million the first in the nation to legalize marijuana.

Such action would also send the state into a headlong conflict with the U.S. government while raising questions about how federal law enforcement could enforce its drug laws in the face of a massive government-sanctioned pot industry.

The state already has a thriving marijuana trade, thanks to a first-of-its-kind 1996 ballot measure that allowed people to smoke pot for medical purposes. But full legalization could turn medical marijuana dispensaries into all-purpose pot stores, and the open sale of joints could become commonplace on mom-and-pop liquor store counters in liberal locales like Oakland and Santa Cruz.

Under federal law, marijuana is illegal, period. After overseeing a series of raids that destroyed more than 300,000 marijuana plants in California's Sierra Nevada foothills this summer, federal drug czar Gil Kerlikowske proclaimed, "Legalization is not in the president's vocabulary, and it's not in mine."

The U.S. Supreme Court also has ruled that federal law enforcement agents have the right to crack down even on marijuana users and distributors who are in compliance with California's medical marijuana law.

But some legal scholars and policy analysts say the government will not be able to require California to help in enforcing the federal marijuana ban if the state legalizes the drug.

Without assistance from the state's legions of narcotics officers, they say, federal agents could do little to curb marijuana in California.

"Even though that federal ban is still in place and the federal government can enforce it, it doesn't mean the states have to follow suit," said Robert Mikos, a Vanderbilt University law professor who recently published a paper about the issue.

Nothing can stop federal anti-drug agents from making marijuana arrests, even if Californians legalize pot, he said. However, the U.S. government cannot pass a law requiring local and state police, sheriff's departments or state narcotics enforcers to help.

That is significant, because nearly all arrests for marijuana crimes are made at the state level. Of more than 847,000 marijuana-related arrests in 2008, for example, just over 6,300 suspects were booked by federal law enforcement, or fewer than 1 percent.

State marijuana bans have allowed the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to focus on big cases, said Rosalie Pacula, director of drug policy research at the Rand Corp.

"It's only something the feds are going to be concerned about if you're growing tons of pot," Pacula said. For anything less, she said, "they don't have the resources to waste on it."

In a typical recent prosecution, 29-year-old Luke Scarmazzo was sentenced to nearly 22 years and co-defendant Ricardo Ruiz Montes to 20 years in federal prison for drug trafficking through a medical marijuana dispensary in Modesto.

At his bond hearing, prosecutors showed a rap video in which Scarmazzo boasts about his successful marijuana business, taunts federal authorities and carries cardboard boxes filled with cash. The DEA said the pair made more than $4.5 million in marijuana sales in less than two years.

The DEA would not speculate on the effects of any decision by California to legalize pot. "Marijuana is illegal under federal law and DEA will continue to attack large-scale drug trafficking organizations at every level," spokeswoman Dawn Dearden said.

The most conservative of the three ballot measures would only legalize possession of up to one ounce of pot for personal use by adults 21 and older — an amount that already under state law can only result at most in a $100 fine.

The proposal would also allow anyone to grow a plot of marijuana up to 5 feet-by-5 feet on their private property. The size, Pacula said, seems specifically designed to keep the total number of plants grown below 100, the threshold for DEA attention.

The greatest potential for conflict with the U.S. government would likely come from the provision that would give local governments the power to decide city-by-city whether to allow pot sales.

Hundreds of medical marijuana dispensaries across the state already operate openly with only modest federal interference. If recreational marijuana became legal, these businesses could operate without requiring their customers to qualify as patients.

Any business that grew bigger than the already typical storefront shops, however, would probably be too tempting a target for federal prosecution, experts said.

Even if Washington could no longer count on California to keep pot off its own streets, Congress or the Obama administration could try to coerce cooperation by withholding federal funds.

But with U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder's announcement earlier this year that the Justice Department would defer to state laws on marijuana, the federal response to possible legalization remains unclear.

Doug Richardson, a spokesman for the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy, said the office is in the process of re-evaluating its policies on marijuana and other drugs.

Richardson said the office under Obama was pursuing a "more comprehensive" approach than the previous administration, with emphasis on prevention and treatment as well as law enforcement.

"We're trying to base stuff on the facts, the evidence and the science," he said, "not some particular prejudice somebody brings to the table."

Article Link:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091008/ap_on_re_us/us_marijuana_legalization

NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) - Gold surged to a record high above $1,040 per ounce on Tuesday, as investors piled into the metal to preserve the value of their dollar-denominated assets against erosion by a weakening dollar and inflation.

Both spot gold prices and U.S. gold futures have benefited from a convergence of factors, including technical buying, a report that some oil producers could switch to other currencies to price their crude and worries about the potential inflation impact of unprecedented global fiscal stimulus.

"In an environment where interest rates are virtually zero, the incremental cost of moving into gold is nil. It stands to reason for investors that gold is more desirable," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris private bank in Chicago.

Spot gold hit a historic $1,043.45 per ounce, and was last up 1.9 percent at $1,036.10 at 2:36 p.m. EDT (1836 GMT), against $1,016.65 quoted late in New York on Monday.

Bullion surpassed its previous record $1,030.80 set in March 2008. Year to date, the metal has gained 18 percent.

However, Tuesday's all-time high was still sharply below the inflation-adjusted record pinpointed by analysts. Metals consultancy GFMS put that figure as high as $2,079 an ounce.

Most-active U.S. gold December futures hit an all-time high $1,045. December settled at $1,039.70 an ounce, up 2.2 percent or $21.90.

Bullion also hit six-month highs when priced in sterling and euros, breaking above 700 euros an ounce for the first time since early April.

The dollar slipped sharply after U.K. newspaper the Independent said Gulf Arab states were in secret discussions to end the use of dollars in oil trading. Big oil-producing countries later denied the report.

An interest rate hike in Australia also reinforced expectations the Federal Reserve will lag other central banks in ending its loose monetary policy.

Gold's rally was driven primarily by fears over currency depreciation. A weaker dollar, however, will eventually lead to import-led inflation down the road, analysts said.
Traders said they were also seeing rising demand in India, the largest consumer of gold last year, ahead of the Diwali festival on October 19.

Mark Cutifani, chief executive of AngloGold Ashanti, the world's third largest and Africa's top gold producer, said he saw gold prices at $950 to $1,100 an ounce in the next 12 months, and they could break $1,100 if the U.S. economy continued to dip and investment demand rises.

The yellow metal's gains helped lift silver to a two-week high of $17.36 an ounce as investors bought it as a cheaper proxy for gold. Silver, which has the market characteristics of both the precious and industrial metals, was later at $17.25 an ounce against $16.59. Palladium hits its highest since August last year at $308.50. It was last at $307.50 against $298.50.

Platinum, the precious metal widely used in autocatalyst manufacturing, also benefited from gold's climb, as well as the better appetite for risk demonstrated by rising equity markets. Platinum was at $1,315 an ounce against $1,293.

Article Links:
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE59534Z20091006?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0

Published: 6:39AM BST 06 Oct 2009

The move would see oil priced not in dollars but in a unit based on a basket of currencies including the Chinese yuan, the Japanese yen, and a new currency intended for use by the Gulf emirates, according to a report in Tuesday's Independent newspaper. The paper added that the transistion from the dollar to a new currency will take almost a decade.

Finance ministers and central bankers have held meetings in Russia, China, Japan and Brazil to discuss the idea, which the Americans are aware of, the Independent said.

"Eventually there will be a move to non-dollar commodity contracts, and it may be the next big risk for the dollar," Ben Simpfendorfer, chief China economist for Royal Bank of Scotland, told Bloomberg. "At the same time, I don't want to overplay the importance of the story. There's no credible sources there."

The financial crisis has intensified speculation about the eventual demise of the dollar as the world's reserve currency. In the last six months, Russia, Brazil, India and China have already discussed buying each other's debt as a way of cutting their dependence on the dollar, while the United Nations last month proposed a new global currency to replace the greenback.

The dominant role of the dollar in world trade and financial markets - a position it inherited from sterling - has already been under threat since the formation of the euro and the emergence of China as a major economic power.

The amount of the the world's currency reserves held in dollars has fallen over the past decade, with the it declining to a record low of 62.8pc in the second quarter, figures from the International Monetary Fund showed last week. The euro's share climbed to 27.5pc from 25.9pc.

But few experts expect the dollar's status to be quickly eclipsed.

Niall Ferguson, a Harvard University Professor, said yesterday that there wouldn't be a dollar collapse given the lack of proper alternatives. “There are enormously strong arguments for maintaining a substantial pile of your reserves in dollar form,” according to Professor Ferguson. "That is still the currency of choice for most of the trade that goes on in the world.”

However, there seems little doubt that China's fears over the fate of the dollar have increased recently. Timothy Geither, the US Treasury Secretary, has sought to ease China's worry that America's combination of record low interest rates and a policy of printing money will spark a sharp decline in the currency. China is America's biggest international creditor.

The dollar was weaker in early morning trading in London, losing half a cent against the euro at $1.4722 and weaker against the pound.

Article Link:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/currency/6263992/Dollars-demise-plotted-by-oil-producers-China-and-France-report-says.html

Oct. 1 (Bloomberg) -- China’s manufacturing expanded at the fastest pace in 17 months in September on stimulus spending and this year’s record growth in new loans.

The Purchasing Managers’ Index rose to a seasonally adjusted 54.3 from 54.0 in August, the Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said today in an e-mailed statement in Beijing. The latest number was lower than the median estimate of 55 in a Bloomberg News survey of 13 economists. A reading above 50 indicates an expansion.

China, which is marking 60 years of Communist Party rule today, has pledged to maintain stimulus policies to create jobs, maintain social stability and strengthen the recovery of the world’s fastest-growing major economy. A manufacturing index released by HSBC Holdings Plc yesterday also showed an expansion in September as a 4 trillion yuan ($586 billion) stimulus package countered a slump in exports.

“Manufacturing is likely to keep climbing steadily as investment, production and retail sales all rebound further and exports bottom out,” said Lu Zhengwei, an economist at Industrial Bank Co. in Shanghai. Lu estimates China’s economy may grow 9 percent this quarter, up from 7.9 percent in the previous three months.

China’s stock markets were closed today for a public holiday.

Stimulus Measures

Today’s manufacturing figure compares with a record-low 38.8 in November, when recessions in the U.S., Europe and Japan sent export orders plunging and Premier Wen Jiabao’s stimulus package was yet to kick in. China’s economic growth will keep strengthening for the rest of 2009, according to a Bloomberg News survey of economists in August.

An output index rose to 58.0 in September from 57.9 in August, a measure of new orders climbed to 56.8 from 56.3, and an export-order index increased to 53.3 from 52.1, according to today’s statement.

An index of employment index rose to 53.2, the highest level since April 2008, from 51.4. Fifteen out of the 20 industries surveyed by the agency showed expansion in September.

“China’s economy will continue to rebound, and with the relatively fast recovery in employment and incomes, that rebound is sustainable,” Zhang Liqun, a researcher at the State Council Development and Research Center, said in today’s statement.

Zhang cautioned that policy makers must focus on preserving growth as China’s economic rebound was not solid and the recovery was still mainly driven by government stimulus rather than consumption.

Tax Cuts

China’s industrial output rose the most in a year in August as passenger-car sales almost doubled on tax cuts and government subsidies. Local truck-maker Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Co. said this week that it plans a venture with Caterpillar Inc. and Navistar International Corp. to boost production and tap demand in the world’s fastest-growing major vehicle market.

Industrial overcapacity and a 10-month slump in exports are drags on the nation’s recovery.

China’s State Council, or cabinet, announced on Sept. 29 a ban on building aluminum smelters and coking projects for three years and a temporary halt on new cement projects. It also said the steel industry shouldn’t expand, without specifying a period.

The manufacturing index, released by the logistics federation and the Beijing-based National Bureau of Statistics, is based on replies to questionnaires sent to purchasing executives at more than 730 companies in 20 industries. It began in January 2005.

Article Link:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aumIPJNSpcZg

By MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press Writer Mark Sherman, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 7 mins ago

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court says it will take up a challenge to Chicago's ban on handguns, opening the way for a ruling that could set off a vigorous new campaign to roll back state and local gun controls across the nation.

Victory for gun-rights proponents in the Chicago case is considered likely, even by supporters of gun control, in the latest battle in the nation's long and often bitter dispute over the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. A ruling against the city's outright ban could lead to legal challenges to less-restrictive laws across the country that limit who can own guns, whether firearms must be registered and how they should be stored.

The case is to be argued early next year.

Last year, the justices struck down a prohibition on handguns in the District of Columbia, a city with unique federal status, as a violation of the Second Amendment. Now the court will decide whether that ruling should apply to local and state laws as well.

The court has previously said that most, but not all, rights laid out in the Constitution's Bill of Rights serve as checks on state as well as federal restrictions. Separately, 44 state constitutions already enshrine gun rights.

Though faced with potential limits from the high court on their ability to enact laws and regulations in this area, 34 states weighed in on the gun- rights side before the justices agreed to take the case Wednesday, an indication of the enduring strength of the National Rifle Association and its allies.

The gun case was among several the court added to its docket for the term that begins Monday. Others include:

• A challenge to part of a law that makes it a crime to provide financial and other aid to any group designated a terrorist organization.

• A dispute over when new, harsher penalties can be given to sex offenders who don't register with state sex offender databases.

• Whether to throw out a human rights lawsuit against a former prime minister of Somalia who is accused of overseeing killings and other atrocities. The issue is whether a federal law gives the former official, Mohamed Ali Samantar, immunity from lawsuits in U.S. courts.

In the gun case, outright handgun bans appear to be limited to Chicago and suburban Oak Park, Ill. But a ruling against those ordinances probably would "open up all the gun regulations in the country to constitutional scrutiny, of which there are quite a few," said Mark Tushnet, a Harvard Law School professor whose recent book "Out of Range" explores the often bitter national debate over guns.

Already, Alan Gura, who led the legal challenge to the Washington law and represents the plaintiff in Chicago, is suing to overturn the District of Columbia's prohibition on carrying firearms outside a person's home. Illinois and Wisconsin have similar restrictions.

In voiding Washington's handgun ban last year, Justice Antonin Scalia suggested that gun rights, like the right to speech, are limited and that many gun control measures could remain in place.

Ultimately, said Tushnet, the court will have to decide, possibly restriction by restriction, which limits are reasonable.

"It's very hard to know where this court would draw the line between reasonable and unreasonable," he said.

NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre said he hopes the court rules that "core fundamental freedoms like speech, religion and, we believe, the right to keep and bear arms are intended to apply to every individual in the country."

Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said the court's decision to take up the new case was unsurprising in light of last year's ruling.

These cases should "take the extremes off the table," Helmke said, referring to bans on guns and unlimited gun rights. "What's critical for us is how the court goes about fleshing out what the limits are."

The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago had upheld the gun bans as legitimate expressions of local and state rights.

Judge Frank Easterbrook, an appointee of President Ronald Reagan, wrote in the ruling that "the Constitution establishes a federal republic where local differences are to be cherished as elements of liberty rather than extirpated in order to produce a single, nationally applicable rule."

"Federalism is an older and more deeply rooted tradition than is a right to carry any particular kind of weapon," Easterbrook wrote.

Evaluating arguments over the extension of the Second Amendment is a job "for the justices rather than a court of appeals," he said.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, then an appeals court judge, was part of a three-judge panel in New York that reached a similar conclusion in January.

The high court took the suggestion Wednesday.

Judges on both courts — Republican nominees in Chicago and Democratic nominees in New York — said only the Supreme Court could decide whether to extend last year's ruling throughout the country.

The New York ruling also has been challenged, but the court did not act on it Wednesday. Sotomayor would have to sit out any case involving decisions she was part of on the appeals court. Although the issue is the same in the Chicago case, there is no ethical bar to her participation in its consideration by the Supreme Court.

She replaced Justice David Souter, who dissented in the 5-4 Washington case, so the five-justice majority remains intact.

Several Republican senators cited the Sotomayor gun ruling, as well as her reticence on the topic at her confirmation hearing, in explaining their decision to oppose her confirmation to the high court.

Article Link:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090930/ap_on_go_su_co/us_supreme_court_guns

By FABIOLA SANCHEZ, Associated Press Writer Fabiola Sanchez, Associated Press Writer – Fri Sep 25, 7:11 pm ET

PORLAMAR, Venezuela – Iran is helping to detect uranium deposits in Venezuela and initial evaluations suggest reserves are significant, President Hugo Chavez's government said Friday.

Mining Minister Rodolfo Sanz said Iran has been assisting Venezuela with geophysical survey flights and geochemical analysis of the deposits, and that evaluations "indicate the existence of uranium in western parts of the country and in Santa Elena de Uairen," in southeastern Bolivar state.

"We could have important reserves of uranium," Sanz told reporters upon arrival on Venezuela's Margarita Island for a weekend Africa-South America summit. He added that efforts to certify the reserves could begin within the next three years.

The announcement came as revelations that Iran has secretly been building a uranium-enrichment plant provoke concerns among countries including the U.S., Russia, France, Britain, Germany and China.

On Friday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev urged Iran in a statement to prove it is not seeking to develop atomic weapons, saying the undeclared construction of an enrichment facility flies in the face of U.N. Security Council demands for Iran to stop uranium enrichment at its only declared facility.

Iran is under three sets of Security Council sanctions for refusing to freeze enrichment at what had been its single publicly known enrichment plant, which is being monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said recently that U.S. officials also have "concerns" about a possible transfer of nuclear materials between Iran and Venezuela.

But analysts say Iran, which has significant uranium deposits, currently has no need to import uranium, although those deposits may not be enough to sustain its future enrichment goals.

Sanz dismissed suggestions that Venezuela could aid Iran with its nuclear program, saying Venezuela is only aiming to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. Chavez has repeatedly said that all countries should end their nuclear-weapons programs, while insisting that Iran and Venezuela have a "sovereign right" to pursue peaceful nuclear ambitions.

Michael Shifter of the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington said that regardless of whether the uranium exploration efforts lead to nuclear cooperation, they are going to cause "a serious problem in the relationship" between Caracas and Washington.

Chavez's government has "clearly announced they're sort of beginning down this road," Shifter said. "It's going to be very difficult for the U.S. to really pursue any cooperation with Caracas on other issues because this is going to top everything else."

Chavez's project remains in its planning stages and still faces a host of practical hurdles, likely requiring billions of dollars, as well as technology and expertise that Venezuela lacks. Russia has offered to help bridge that gap, and Chavez has announced that the two countries have created an atomic energy commission.

But Sergei Novikov, a spokesman for Russian state nuclear agency Rosatom, has said there are no concrete projects and that any joint work on mining deposits of uranium or the radioactive metal thorium would have to wait until Venezuela decides whether it wants Russian help exploring them and, if so, create a joint venture for the purpose.

Both Chavez and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are well-known for their anti-U.S. rhetoric, and have forged ties in everything from finance to factories, provoking concerns in Washington. Iran now manufactures cars, tractors and bicycles in Venezuela.

Earlier this month, Chavez sealed a deal to export 20,000 barrels of gasoline daily to Iran, giving Tehran a cushion if the West carries out threats of fuel sanctions over Iran's nuclear program.

Article Link:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090925/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_venezuela_iran

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has ordered the replacement of the US dollar by the euro in the country's foreign exchange accounts.

The September 12 edict was issued following a decision by the trustees of the country's foreign reserves, Mehr News Agency reported.

Earlier, the Islamic Republic of Iran had announced that the euro would replace the greenback in the country's oil transactions. Iran has called on other OPEC members to ditch the sinking dollar in favor of the more credible euro.

Following the switch, the interest rate for the facilities provided from the Foreign Exchange Reserves will be reduced from12 to 5 percent.

Since being introduced by the European Union, the euro has gained popularity internationally and there are now more euros in circulation than the dollar.

The move will also help decouple Iran from the US banking system.

RZS/ZAP/DT

Article Link:
http://presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=106669§ionid=351020102

Sept. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Ford Motor Co. began work on a third Chinese car plant as it strives to challenge General Motors Co. and Volkswagen AG in a country set to pass the U.S. as the world’s biggest auto market.

The $490 million plant will make revamped Focus cars when it opens in 2012, Ford Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally said today at a groundbreaking ceremony in Chongqing, southern China. The factory, which will be able to make 150,000 vehicles a year, will boost Ford’s overall car capacity in the country to 600,000.

Mulally attended the event after also visiting India this week as Ford steps up investments in emerging markets that have withstood the slump in global auto sales. China vehicle sales may rise 28 percent this year, according to the government.

“Ford knows it needs to catch up with GM and Volkswagen” in China, said Chen Liang, an analyst at Huatai Securities Co. “China is a bright spot for many global automakers because demand has been strong.”

Ford and partners Chongqing Changan Automobile Co. and Mazda Motor Corp. already have a plant in Chongqing that can build 267,000 vehicles a year and another in Nanjing that can produce 180,000. The factories make Fiesta, Mondeo, Focus and S- MAX autos for Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford as well as models for Hiroshima, Japan-based Mazda. Changan owns 50 percent of the venture with Ford holding 35 percent and Mazda 15 percent.

China Sales

“The China market is very important for the long term,” Mulally said in an interview with Bloomberg Television today. “We’ve been expanding as fast as we can.”

Changan Ford Sales Co. boosted Ford-brand car sales to 144,601 in the first eight months, according to a Sept. 2 statement. GM, the biggest overseas automaker in China, increased total vehicle sales in the period 50 percent to 1.11 million. They rose 33 percent to 913,000 vehicles for Volkswagen.

Ford also has a separate China venture that makes Transit vans.

Nissan Motor Co., Hyundai Motor Co. and Volkswagen all have announced plans to expand in China as rising wages and government stimulus measures spur auto sales.

China’s full-year industrywide vehicle sales may reach 12 million, according to the government. In the U.S., industrywide sales may be about 11 million this year and rise to 12.5 million next year, Mulally said in New Delhi on Sept. 23.

Mulally on Sept. 23 unveiled Ford’s first small car in India, increasing its bet on the world’s second-fastest growing major economy. Ford is spending $500 million to build a second car factory in India.

Article Link:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a5En7EMGlY44

Sept. 25 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks fell, extending the market’s biggest weekly drop since July, as lower-than-estimated data on durable goods orders and home sales overshadowed improving in consumer confidence. Oil rose for the first time in three days; Treasury two-year notes fell the most in a week.

General Electric Co.,Alcoa Inc. and American Express Co. lost at least 1.3 percent after the Commerce Department reported a 2.4 percent slide in bookings for goods meant to last several years. Research In Motion Ltd., maker of the BlackBerry, tumbled 17 percent after its sales forecast trailed analysts’ estimates. Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc. retreated after Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair urged policies to end bailouts for large banks.

“Mixed economic reports not just today, but during the entire week,” said Philip Orlando, who helps oversee $400 billion as chief equity market strategist at Federated Investors Inc. in New York. “That tells us that the economy is not a straight shot to the moon. Same goes for the stock market.”

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 0.6 percent to 1,044.38 at 4:05 p.m. in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 42.25 points, or 0.4 percent, to 9,665.19. The Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 0.8 percent to 2,090.92.

Equities opened lower as the Commerce Department report on orders for durable goods spurred concern the economy is struggling to recover. Benchmark indexes rebounded briefly after the Reuters/University of Michigan final index of consumer confidence for September rose to 73.5, higher than economists’ estimate of 70.5. New home sales climbed 0.7 percent, less than the 1.6 percent estimate of economists.

Weekly Decline

The S&P 500 lost 2.2 percent this week, its biggest drop since the beginning of July, as sales of existing homes unexpectedly slumped and the Federal Reserve said it will cut the size of two programs meant to bolster credit markets.

Traders said the moves in stocks were exaggerated by relatively light trading in anticipation to the Yom Kippur holiday on Sept. 28. About 1.19 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, a 47 percent drop from a week earlier.

“There’s the Jewish holiday on Monday and a bit of short covering going into the long weekend,” said Michael Nasto, the senior trader at U.S. Global Investors Inc., which manages about $2 billion in San Antonio.

A 54 percent rally since March 9 left the S&P 500 valued at 20 times the reported earnings from continuing operations of its companies, the most expensive level since 2004, according to weekly data compiled by Bloomberg.

‘In a Recovery’

“We are in a recovery,” said E. William Stone, who oversees $102 billion as chief investment strategist at PNC Wealth Management in Philadelphia. “Valuation-wise, stocks may not be as cheap as they were six months ago. But if we get a better-than-expected recovery, stocks may be very attractive, especially relative to other alternatives.”

Crude oil for November delivery rose 13 cents to $66.02 a barrel in New York after President Obama said Iran, the world’s fourth-biggest oil producer, is building a new nuclear fuel plant and is “breaking rules” that other nations follow. Futures touched $65.05 earlier today, the lowest intraday price since July 31.

The two-year Treasury note fell, sending its yield up five basis points to 0.98, as the bigger-than-estimated gain in consumer confidence added to evidence the economy is recovering from the worst recession in seven decades.

Yield Spread

The difference in yields between two- and 10-year notes narrowed for a fourth day to 2.34 percentage points. The so- called yield curve is the flattest since May 18.

The yen rose beyond 90 versus the dollar for the first time in seven months as Japan’s Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii reiterated opposition to intervention in currency markets. The dollar traded at $1.4677 per euro, compared with $1.4666 yesterday.

The Dollar Index, which gauges the currency against six major trading partners, fell as much as 0.5 percent today, the third decline in four sessions.

Copper prices rose after a drop in the dollar boosted the metal’s appeal as a hedge against inflation.

Gold fell, capping the biggest weekly decline since mid- July, as the metal’s failure to reach a record discouraged investors who had bet on a longer rally.

Precious Metals

Gold traded below $1,000 for the second straight day after climbing to $1,025.80 on Sept. 17, near the all-time high of $1,033.90 set in March 2008.

Silver sank the most in a week since February. Before today, silver surged 44 percent and gold rose 13 percent this year, heading for a ninth-straight annual gain.

Major U.S. equity indexes are poised to fall at least 10 percent after experiencing a “key reversal” by closing lower on the day they rose to nearly one-year highs, according to Chicago-based Technical Analytics Inc. The S&P 500, the Dow and the Nasdaq have fallen for three straight days since setting the intraday highs on Sept. 23.

U.S. stocks are two-thirds of the way through a “structural bear market” and will take at least four years to surpass their record levels of October 2007, technical analyst Louise Yamada said.

The stock market is likely to alternate between cyclical, or shorter-term, bull and bear markets over that period, Yamada, managing director of Louise Yamada Technical Research Advisors LLC in New York, said in a Bloomberg Radio interview.

“The profile of the next four years is about eight cyclical moves,” Yamada said. The S&P 500’s 12-year low in March “may well prove to be the pivot low, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to be roaring off in a new bull market yet. There’s a lot of repair that has to take place following that kind of a decline.”

Article Link:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a8yQB.WcIhEQ

By MARY FOSTER, Associated Press Writer Mary Foster, Associated Press Writer – Wed Sep 23, 2:51 pm ET

NEW ORLEANS – Bullet-makers are working around the clock, seven days a week, and still can't keep up with the nation's demand for ammunition.

Shooting ranges, gun dealers and bullet manufacturers say they have never seen such shortages. Bullets, especially for handguns, have been scarce for months because gun enthusiasts are stocking up on ammo, in part because they fear President Barack Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress will pass antigun legislation — even though nothing specific has been proposed and the president last month signed a law allowing people to carry loaded guns in national parks.

Gun sales spiked when it became clear Obama would be elected a year ago and purchases continued to rise in his first few months of office. The FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System reported that 6.1 million background checks for gun sales were issued from January to May, an increase of 25.6 percent from the same period the year before.

"That is going to cause an upswing in ammunition sales," said Larry Keane, senior vice president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a trade association representing about 5,000 members. "Without bullets a gun is just a paper weight."

The shortage for sportsmen is different than the scarcity of ammo for some police forces earlier this year, a dearth fueled by an increase in ammo use by the military in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"We are working overtime and still can't keep up with the demand," said Al Russo, spokesman for North Carolina-based Remington Arms Company, which makes bullets for rifles, handguns and shotguns. "We've had to add a fourth shift and go 24-7. It's a phenomenon that I have not seen before in my 30 years in the business."

Americans usually buy about 7 billion rounds of ammunition a year, according to the National Rifle Association. In the past year, that figure has jumped to about 9 billion rounds, said NRA spokeswoman Vickie Cieplak.

Jason Gregory, who manages Gretna Gun Works just outside of New Orleans, has been building his personal supply of ammunition for months. His goal is to have at least 1,000 rounds for each of his 25 weapons.

"I call it the Obama effect," said Gregory, 37, of Terrytown, La. "It always happens when the Democrats get in office. It happened with Clinton and Obama is even stronger for gun control. Ammunition will be the first step, so I'm stocking up while I can."

So far, the new administration nor Congress has not been markedly antigun. Obama has said he respects Second Amendment rights, but favors "common sense" on gun laws. Still, worries about what could happen persist.

Demand has been so heavy at some Walmarts, a limit was imposed on the amount of ammo customers can buy. The cutoff varies according to caliber and store location, but sometimes as little as one box — or 50 bullets — is allowed.

At Barnwood Arms in Ripon, Calif., sales manager Dallas Jett said some of the shortages have leveled off, but 45-caliber rounds are still hard to find.

"We've been in business for 32 years and I've been here for 10 and we've never seen anything like it," Jett said. "Coming out of Christmas everything started to dry up and it was that way all through the spring and summer.

Nationwide, distributors are scrambling to fill orders from retailers.

"We used to be able to order 50 or 60 cases and get them in three or four days easy, it was never an issue," said Vic Grechniw of Florida Ammo Traders, a distributor in Tampa, Fla. "Now you are really lucky if you can get one case a month. It just isn't there because the demand is way up."

A case contains 500 or 1,000 bullets.

At Jefferson Gun Outlet and Range in Metairie just west of New Orleans, owner Mike Mayer is worried individuals are going to start buying by the case.

"If someone wants to shoot on the weekend you have to worry about having the ammunition for them. And I know some people aren't buying to use it at the range, they're taking it home and hoarding it."

With demand, prices have also risen.

"Used to be gold, but now lead is the most expensive metal," said Donald Richards, 37, who was stocking up at the Jefferson store. "And worth every penny."

Article Link:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090923/ap_on_re_us/us_ammo_shortage

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WASHINGTON – One year after Wall Street teetered on the brink of collapse, seven out of 10 Americans lack confidence the federal government has taken safeguards to prevent another financial industry meltdown, according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll.

Even more — 80 percent — rate the condition of the economy as poor and a majority worry about their own ability to make ends meet. The pessimistic outlook sets the stage for President Barack Obama as he attempts to portray the financial sector as increasingly confident and stable and presses Congress to act on new banking regulations.

The public sentiment also poses a challenge to central elements of Obama's governing agenda. Half of those surveyed said deficit reduction should be a national priority over increased spending on health care, education or alternative energy.

"I know a lot of people who don't have health care and really can't afford it," said Judy Purkey, a 57-year-old grandmother from Morristown, Tenn., who has raised four grandchildren and is living on disability payments. But she added: "The economy is so bad. You've heard the expression getting blood out of a turnip? — Well, that's what's going on."

The president, in a CBS interview that aired Sunday on "60 Minutes," acknowledged the public's quandary.

"This is a very difficult economic environment. People are feeling anxious," he said. "And I think it is absolutely fair to say that people started feeling some sticker shock."

Still, Obama generally avoided public blame for the recession or the condition of the banking sector.

Only one out of five surveyed said Obama bore responsibility for the recession; 54 percent blamed former President George W. Bush and 19 percent blamed former President Bill Clinton.

Financial institutions, however, bore the brunt of the criticism — 79 percent of those surveyed said banks and lenders that made risky loans deserve quite a bit of the blame. Sixty-eight percent held the federal government responsible for not adequately regulating banks and 65 percent blamed borrowers who could not afford to repay loans.

In a glimmer of good news for the administration, 17 percent of those surveyed said the government's massive economic stimulus has improved the economy, a 10 percentage point increase over July. Nearly six out of 10, however, said they are not confident that $787 billion that Congress approved to lower taxes and inject spending into the economy will do any good.

The White House has been promoting the stimulus package as a job creator and job saver that has helped keep unemployment from rising above its current 9.7 percent level — the highest since 1983.

Michael Painter, a 38-year-old unemployed plumber from Orlando, Fla., said that while he believed that spending package would ultimately stimulate the economy, it had yet to help him or his laid-off wife and teenage daughter.

He said he approved of Obama's job performance so far, but not Congress'. "The people in Congress need to quit bickering about party issues and start worrying about people issues."

The Obama administration also has begun to portray the financial sector in more upbeat terms, eager to make the case that government interventions begun under then-President Bush and continued, altered or expanded under Obama have brought stability to the markets.

Obama plans to deliver a speech Monday — the anniversary of Lehman Brothers' bankruptcy — to outline the administration's achievements and press Congress to enact changes in bank regulations.

But the AP-GfK poll illustrates the difficulty he faces.

More Americans worry about facing big, unexpected medical expenses now than they did in July — up 7 percentage points to 68 percent among those polled. Likewise, more worry that the value of their stocks and retirement investments will drop — up 4 percentage points from July to 68 percent.

In October, then-President Bush pushed a $700 billion financial rescue package through Congress on the condition that only half could be spent without further congressional authority. Obama, upon becoming president in January, succeeded in getting the second amount released, despite growing apprehension among lawmakers about the wisdom of such a bailout.

Obama has repeatedly said that the rescue of the financial sector would be incomplete without a new regulatory regime that would prevent a recurrence of the crisis. Obama has sent the outlines of possible regulation to Congress. Key banking lawmakers in the House and Senate have promised Obama legislation by the end of the year, but there is vigorous debate over key elements of Obama's plan, including a new consumer finance protection agency and the designation of the Federal Reserve as the main overseer of large institutions that could pose risks to the system.

The survey of 1,001 adults with cell and landline telephones was conducted from Sept. 3-8. It had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

Link to article:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090914/ap_on_bi_ge/us_meltdown_ap_poll

Sept. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong stocks rose for a fourth day as China said it will sell sovereign bonds in the city, boosting confidence in the mainland’s support for the former British colony’s place as a global financial hub.

Bank of China Ltd., the nation’s third-largest lender by assets, rallied 2.2 percent, while Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., the world’s largest financial company by market value, advanced 1.9 percent. China’s Ministry of Finance today said in a statement on its Web site that the government plans to sell 6 billion yuan ($879 million) of sovereign bonds in Hong Kong on Sept. 28. Genesis Energy Holdings Ltd., an oil and gas company, jumped 7.7 percent after buying mining rights in China’s Shaanxi Province.

The Hang Seng Index advanced 2.1 percent to 21,069.81 at the close of trade. It had fallen as much as 0.1 percent earlier. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index, which tracks so-called H shares of Chinese companies, rose 2.5 percent to 12,275.66.

“Six billion yuan is a small amount on the mainland market, but it shows the central government’s support to Hong Kong as an international financial center,” said Zhao Qingming, an analyst at China Construction Bank Corp. in Beijing. “It will be the beginning of more measures to push Hong Kong as an offshore center for China’s yuan.”

The Hang Seng Index has rallied 86 percent since hitting a four-month low on March 9. Stocks on the gauge are valued at 17.3 times estimated earnings, up from 10.6 times at the start of the year.

Growth Prospects

Gains accelerated in the afternoon on speculation data out later this week will show China’s economic recovery is strengthening.

The government is due to release August figures for trade, industrial production, urban fixed-asset investment, retail sales and inflation on Sept. 11. The central bank may also give lending and money-supply figures this week.

China will maintain its current stimulatory fiscal and monetary policies as the economy stabilizes and rebounds, State Councilor Ma Kai said at an investment fair in Xiamen today.

Bank of China rallied 2.2 percent to HK$4.19. Industrial & Commercial Bank gained 1.9 percent to HK$5.89. China Construction Bank Corp., the nation’s second largest, climbed 2.4 percent to HK$6.30.

New Revenue Sources

Standard Chartered Plc advanced 0.8 percent to HK$177. The company said it expects its private banking assets in Taiwan to grow twice as fast as the island’s industry average in the next three years as more money is repatriated.

“There’s no doubt that over time the income sources for Hong Kong banks are going to increase,” said Diane Lin, a Sydney-based fund manager at Pengana Capital Ltd., which oversees about $1 billion, including Hong Kong investments. “It offers quite a nice potential growth prospect for them. We are relatively cautious on Hong Kong because valuations have become less attractive.”

Genesis Energy surged 7.7 percent to 28 Hong Kong cents. The company will acquire a 12-square-kilometer (4.6-square-mile) oil and gas project. The mining rights will expire in September 2015, and can be extended upon further negotiations, Genesis Energy said in an e-mailed statement.

Other energy stocks climbed as crude oil for October delivery rose 1.5 percent to $69.07 a barrel at 4:31 p.m. Hong Kong time. PetroChina Co., the country’s largest oil producer, rose 3.2 percent to HK$9.15. Cnooc Ltd., China’s third-biggest oil company, rallied 3 percent to HK$10.84.

Zhaojin Mining Industry Co., a gold mining company based in China’s Shandong province, surged 12 percent to HK$14.28, as gold futures punched through $1,000 an ounce for the first time in more than six months. Real Gold Mining Ltd., based in Inner Mongolia, jumped 17 percent to HK$8.86.

Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd. rose 3 percent to HK$2.07 as China’s biggest privately owned carmaker more than doubled first-half profit after boosting auto sales and buying stakes in carmaking affiliates.

Link to article:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aTsMLpMZcOfo

Sept. 12 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama placed tariffs of 35 percent on $1.8 billion of automobile tires from China, acting on a labor union complaint that surging imports were pushing U.S. factory workers out of their jobs.

The additional duties will begin Sept. 26 and last for three years, dropping 5 percentage points a year, according to a White House statement.

“These remedies are a necessary response to the harm done to U.S. workers and businesses,” U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said in a statement. “Enforcing trade laws is key to maintaining an open and free trading system.”

The case brought by the United Steelworkers is the largest so-called safeguard petition filed to protect U.S. producers from increasing imports from China. Union leaders and Democratic lawmakers portrayed the decision as a gauge of how Obama would balance his campaign pledge to protect workers from imports with his statements as president that he would avoid protectionism.

Democratic Representative Louise Slaughter of New York said the decision was “the first big test of whether President Obama was going to side with the interest of big corporations and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce or with workers.”

“I am happy to say that he came down on the right side,” she said in an e-mailed statement.

The decision is a blow to Chinese producers such as GITI Tire Pte Ltd., the largest Chinese tire maker, and U.S. retailers of low-cost imports.

‘Unprecedented Action’

“By taking this unprecedented action, the Obama administration is now at odds with its own public statements about refraining from increasing tariffs,” Vic DeIorio, executive vice president of GITI Tire in the U.S., said in a statement. “This decision will cost many more American jobs than it will create.”

The independent U.S. International Trade Commission recommended that Obama impose duties for three years, starting at 55 percent, to counter a tripling of tire imports from China from 2004 to 2008. The union, which represents 15,000 employees at 13 tire plants in the U.S., said cheap imports were forcing factories to close, eliminating jobs.

“The president sent the message that we expect others to live by the rules, just as we do,” United Steelworkers President Leo Gerard said in a statement. This decision “means China and other countries can no longer assume they can engage in predatory trade practices with impunity.”

Hosting Hu Jintao

Obama is to speak at a convention of the AFL-CIO, the nation’s largest labor federation, next week. He is also hosting Chinese President Hu Jintao and other world leaders at an economic summit in Pittsburgh later this month.

China is the second-largest U.S. trading partner, after Canada.

Since the Steelworkers filed their petition in April, tire imports from China rose as importers raced to beat the imposition of tariffs or quotas. The tariffs Obama imposed are in addition to existing 4 percent duties on all Chinese tires for cars and light trucks.

All of the U.S. tire makers have operations in China, according to the ITC, and none of them publicly supported the Steelworkers complaint. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., the largest U.S. tiremaker, stayed neutral. Cooper Tire & Rubber Co., the second-largest U.S. tiremaker, opposed the relief. The company has a plant in China.

‘Protectionist Spiral’

Chinese officials and a lobbying group for multinational companies such as Caterpillar Inc., Citigroup Inc. and Microsoft Corp. have urged Obama to refrain from curbing imports, saying it could lead to a “downward protectionist spiral.”

Imposing tariffs will have “highly damaging ripple effects throughout the U.S. economy by increasing the cost of imported tires that largely comprise the low-end of the tire market,” the Emergency Committee for American Trade, which represents those companies, wrote in a letter to Obama last month.

Former President George W. Bush turned down each of the four requests for such trade safeguards in other industries, saying they would do more harm than good to the U.S. economy. Obama pledged during the election campaign to take a harder line against Chinese trade barriers, and said he would assess these safeguard cases on their merits.

Since taking office Obama has vowed to avoid any new protectionist measures.

“While it’s tempting to turn inward during this time of economic uncertainty, President Obama and China’s leaders have counseled us to avoid protectionism,” Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said at a dinner hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Sept. 10 to fete Wu Bangguo, China’s top legislator.

Article Link:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=afiQ4gaun6_0

Sept. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel Prize- winning economist, said the U.S. has failed to fix the underlying problems of its banking system after the credit crunch and the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.

“In the U.S. and many other countries, the too-big-to-fail banks have become even bigger,” Stiglitz said in an interview today in Paris. “The problems are worse than they were in 2007 before the crisis.”

Stiglitz’s views echo those of former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, who has advised President Barack Obama’s administration to curtail the size of banks, and Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer, who suggested last month that governments may want to discourage financial institutions from growing “excessively.”

A year after the demise of Lehman forced the Treasury Department to spend billions to shore up the financial system, Bank of America Corp.’s assets have grown and Citigroup Inc. remains intact. In the U.K., Lloyds Banking Group Plc, 43 percent owned by the government, has taken over the activities of HBOS Plc, and in France BNP Paribas SA now owns the Belgian and Luxembourg banking assets of insurer Fortis.

While Obama wants to name some banks as “systemically important” and subject them to stricter oversight, his plan wouldn’t force them to shrink or simplify their structure.

Stiglitz said the U.S. government is wary of challenging the financial industry because it is politically difficult, and that he hopes the Group of 20 leaders will cajole the U.S. into tougher action.

G-20 Steps

“We aren’t doing anything significant so far, and the banks are pushing back,” he said. “The leaders of the G-20 will make some small steps forward, given the power of the banks” and “any step forward is a move in the right direction.”

G-20 leaders gather next week in Pittsburgh and will consider ways of improving regulation of financial markets and in particular how to set tighter limits on remuneration for market operators. Under pressure from France and Germany, G-20 finance ministers last week reached a preliminary accord that included proposals to claw-back cash awards and linking compensation more closely to long-term performance.

“It’s an outrage,” especially “in the U.S. where we poured so much money into the banks,” Stiglitz said. “The administration seems very reluctant to do what is necessary. Yes they’ll do something, the question is: Will they do as much as required?”

Global Economy

Stiglitz, former chief economist at the World Bank and member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said the world economy is “far from being out of the woods” even if it has pulled back from the precipice it teetered on after the collapse of Lehman.

“We’re going into an extended period of weak economy, of economic malaise,” Stiglitz said. The U.S. will “grow but not enough to offset the increase in the population,” he said, adding that “if workers do not have income, it’s very hard to see how the U.S. will generate the demand that the world economy needs.”

The Federal Reserve faces a “quandary” in ending its monetary stimulus programs because doing so may drive up the cost of borrowing for the U.S. government, he said.

“The question then is who is going to finance the U.S. government,” Stiglitz said.

Link to article:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aYdgQkXu9eBg

Tue Sep 8, 2:56 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States wants to enlist its 3.4 million Girl Scouts in the effort to combat hurricanes, pandemics, terror attacks and other disasters.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) launched a campaign Tuesday to entice the blue, brown and green-clad multitudes to be even more prepared, with the promise of a new patch if they pitch in.

The young scouts will be able to emblazon their sashes or vests with the patch if they undergo the training which readies them for an emergency.

"This new preparedness patch will increase citizen preparedness and enhance our country's readiness for disasters," said DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano in a statement.

"As a former Girl Scout, I know the 'Be Prepared' motto well, and I look forward to working with the Girl Scouts to spread the preparedness message to all of our nation's citizens."

The move is part of a month-long government effort to make Americans better able to cope with natural and man-made disasters.

Napolitano has urged individuals, families and businesses to stock fresh water and food, and prepare an emergency plan -- to be enacted in the event of a disaster.

The unveiling of the patch marks a partnership between the scouts and Citizen Corps, a community-based initiative under the DHS's Federal Emergency Management Agency, which coordinates national response to disasters.

Girl Scouts of the USA chief executive Kathy Cloninger said the tie up with Citizen Corps "provides an opportunity for our girls to lead the way in ensuring that their families and their communities are prepared for emergencies."

The patch will be available alongside existing Girls Are Great, Girl Scouts Against Smoking, Media Know-How and Read to Lead patches, and, of course, the Cookie Sale Activity Pin.

Girl Scouts sell an astonishing 200 million boxes of cookies each year on average, according to the organization, which was founded in 1912 and chartered by the US Congress in 1950.

It is not the first time the girl guides have been called into action in defense of the homeland.

During World War II, Girl Scouts "operated bicycle courier services, invested more than 48,000 hours in Farm Aid projects, collected fat and scrap metal, and grew Victory Gardens," according to Girl Scouts of the USA.

As the end of the second millennium neared and computers around the world were expected to be stricken with a debilitating bug, Girl Scouts were enlisted in some parts of the country to hand out advice about the threat poised by Y2K.

After the September 11, 2001 attacks scouts hosted remembrance ceremonies and wrote thank-you letters to rescuer workers.

Links:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090908/pl_afp/usattackschildrenoffbeat_20090908185707